www.HopeandHelpCenter.orgSame-sex marriage ban in California is felt here
http://tinyurl.com/5u5xpz
By Doug Moore
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
11/14/2008
April Breeden and Crystal Peairs went to bed happy on Nov. 4 knowing that Barack Obama was going to be the country's next president.
Votes in California, where a ban on same-sex marriages was on the ballot, were still being counted.
http://tinyurl.com/5u5xpz
By Doug Moore
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
11/14/2008
April Breeden and Crystal Peairs went to bed happy on Nov. 4 knowing that Barack Obama was going to be the country's next president.
Votes in California, where a ban on same-sex marriages was on the ballot, were still being counted.
"We were absolutely thrilled when Obama won," Breeden said. "And then when we woke up the next morning, it was like a punch in the stomach."
Proposition 8, as it was called, had passed, overturning a California court order in May allowing same-sex couples to wed in the state. The vote left 18,000 newly married couples, including Breeden and Peairs, in legal limbo.
Breeden and Peairs, both 32, live in St. Louis but got married in California largely as a political statement. Like many, they see the right to legal marriage as a civil right to be enjoyed equally by same-sex and straight couples.
Most Americans don't appear to share that belief. Massachusetts and Connecticut are the only states to recognize same-sex unions, while voters in Missouri and many other states have expressly voiced their opposition to either same-sex marriages or civil unions.
Coming on the same day the nation elected its first African-American president, the California vote was a barometer of the divide. Blacks and Hispanics helped Obama win California, but the same minority groups cast the highest percentage of yes votes for the same-sex marriage ban.
"It demonstrates on one hand that we want change and on the other that some things should never change," said the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference in Sacramento, Calif., and a backer of the marriage ban. "It was a powerful message to send to Obama and the electorate. There are values we will defend tooth and nail."
In California, 1,100 Latino churches partnered with African-American clergy to push for the ban.
The ban is not about homophobia, Rodriguez said, but protecting religious beliefs that homosexuality is wrong. By extension, making marriage legal between those of the same sex also would be a sin, he said. He does not see the fight for legal same-sex marriages as a civil rights issue.
"Marriage is an institution defined as between one man and one woman. That is Society 101, not some right-wing religious anomaly," said Rodriguez, an Assembly of God minister. "It's like someone tinkering with our doctrine of faith."
CIVIL RIGHT?
Former Missouri state Rep. Vicky Hartzler, who led the successful efforts for a constitutional amendment in Missouri four years ago, said she is glad to see the sentiment is shared across the country, most recently in California. Voters in Arizona and Florida also supported similar measures on same-sex marriage Nov. 4.
Hartzler said voters, not the courts, should define marriage. Like Rodriguez, she favors a national constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. And like Rodriguez, she cites religion to bolster her case. Earlier this year, Hartzler's book, "Running God's Way," was published. On Amazon.com, the book is listed as "a must-read for everyone interested in serving God through political involvement."
She said same-sex supporters cannot accurately describe their plight as a civil rights issue.
"The color of someone's skin does not change. It's immutable," Hartzler said. Meanwhile, there is debate on whether being gay is a "lifestyle or they were born that way," she said.
A.J. Bockelman, executive director of PROMO, a Missouri gay rights advocacy group, says the fights for equal rights are not mutally exclusive.
"There's a reason early on we adopted the rainbow flag. It symbolizes every walk of life," Bockelman said.
He says those who use the Bible as a defense for their decisions have been wrong before. He points to slavery, and more recently, interracial marriage, which was legalized in 1967.
"Not everyone is in agreement that the Bible excludes gays and lesbians from God's love," Bockelman said.
PROTEST SATURDAY
Bockelman's PROMO is one of several advocacy groups participating in a series of protests around the country on Saturday, including one at the Old Courthouse in downtown St. Louis.
Ed Reggi, organizer of the St. Louis protest, said the aim is to pressure the California Supreme Court to reaffirm its earlier decision and restore the right of same-sex couples to marry.
The California vote brought a wave of fear, he said.
"If California can rewrite its constiution to specifically target gays and lesbians, then whose civil rights could be next?" Reggi asked.
Mark Kalk, 50, and Mark Lammert, 56, of St. Louis, plan to attend the protest.
They were a part of a ceremonial mass marriage of same-sex couples in Washington in 1993 and two years later had a civil union in Vermont. In September, already headed to California to serve as ushers in a straight wedding, they decided to get married as well.
Breeden and Peairs, like Kalk and Lammert, see civil unions, which give many of the same protections to gay couples as marriages do to straight couples, as a "separate but equal" classification. Breeden likened it to a school desegregation program.
"It's like having different drinking fountains," Lammert said.
Both couples said they would get married in Missouri, if the state legally recognized their unions. But Missouri voters overwhelmingly supported a constitutional amendment in 2004 to ban same-sex marriage, setting in motion similar successful votes in 11 other states later that year. That's why the California marriages were important to the two St. Louis couples.
"We did it because it shows intent," Kalk said. "It shows we intended to marry (in Missouri) but were not allowed to."
It is really awesome to have this article! This is going to be a great event!!
Below is all the info you need about the event on Saturday. A website has been set up with maps, links and more!
See you there!
Scott Emanuel
All event information:
http://www.showmenohate.com/
St. Louis Response to PROP 8
Saturday November 15
12-2pm Old Courthouse on Broadway
(between Chestnut and Market)
Proposition 8, as it was called, had passed, overturning a California court order in May allowing same-sex couples to wed in the state. The vote left 18,000 newly married couples, including Breeden and Peairs, in legal limbo.
Breeden and Peairs, both 32, live in St. Louis but got married in California largely as a political statement. Like many, they see the right to legal marriage as a civil right to be enjoyed equally by same-sex and straight couples.
Most Americans don't appear to share that belief. Massachusetts and Connecticut are the only states to recognize same-sex unions, while voters in Missouri and many other states have expressly voiced their opposition to either same-sex marriages or civil unions.
Coming on the same day the nation elected its first African-American president, the California vote was a barometer of the divide. Blacks and Hispanics helped Obama win California, but the same minority groups cast the highest percentage of yes votes for the same-sex marriage ban.
"It demonstrates on one hand that we want change and on the other that some things should never change," said the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference in Sacramento, Calif., and a backer of the marriage ban. "It was a powerful message to send to Obama and the electorate. There are values we will defend tooth and nail."
In California, 1,100 Latino churches partnered with African-American clergy to push for the ban.
The ban is not about homophobia, Rodriguez said, but protecting religious beliefs that homosexuality is wrong. By extension, making marriage legal between those of the same sex also would be a sin, he said. He does not see the fight for legal same-sex marriages as a civil rights issue.
"Marriage is an institution defined as between one man and one woman. That is Society 101, not some right-wing religious anomaly," said Rodriguez, an Assembly of God minister. "It's like someone tinkering with our doctrine of faith."
CIVIL RIGHT?
Former Missouri state Rep. Vicky Hartzler, who led the successful efforts for a constitutional amendment in Missouri four years ago, said she is glad to see the sentiment is shared across the country, most recently in California. Voters in Arizona and Florida also supported similar measures on same-sex marriage Nov. 4.
Hartzler said voters, not the courts, should define marriage. Like Rodriguez, she favors a national constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. And like Rodriguez, she cites religion to bolster her case. Earlier this year, Hartzler's book, "Running God's Way," was published. On Amazon.com, the book is listed as "a must-read for everyone interested in serving God through political involvement."
She said same-sex supporters cannot accurately describe their plight as a civil rights issue.
"The color of someone's skin does not change. It's immutable," Hartzler said. Meanwhile, there is debate on whether being gay is a "lifestyle or they were born that way," she said.
A.J. Bockelman, executive director of PROMO, a Missouri gay rights advocacy group, says the fights for equal rights are not mutally exclusive.
"There's a reason early on we adopted the rainbow flag. It symbolizes every walk of life," Bockelman said.
He says those who use the Bible as a defense for their decisions have been wrong before. He points to slavery, and more recently, interracial marriage, which was legalized in 1967.
"Not everyone is in agreement that the Bible excludes gays and lesbians from God's love," Bockelman said.
PROTEST SATURDAY
Bockelman's PROMO is one of several advocacy groups participating in a series of protests around the country on Saturday, including one at the Old Courthouse in downtown St. Louis.
Ed Reggi, organizer of the St. Louis protest, said the aim is to pressure the California Supreme Court to reaffirm its earlier decision and restore the right of same-sex couples to marry.
The California vote brought a wave of fear, he said.
"If California can rewrite its constiution to specifically target gays and lesbians, then whose civil rights could be next?" Reggi asked.
Mark Kalk, 50, and Mark Lammert, 56, of St. Louis, plan to attend the protest.
They were a part of a ceremonial mass marriage of same-sex couples in Washington in 1993 and two years later had a civil union in Vermont. In September, already headed to California to serve as ushers in a straight wedding, they decided to get married as well.
Breeden and Peairs, like Kalk and Lammert, see civil unions, which give many of the same protections to gay couples as marriages do to straight couples, as a "separate but equal" classification. Breeden likened it to a school desegregation program.
"It's like having different drinking fountains," Lammert said.
Both couples said they would get married in Missouri, if the state legally recognized their unions. But Missouri voters overwhelmingly supported a constitutional amendment in 2004 to ban same-sex marriage, setting in motion similar successful votes in 11 other states later that year. That's why the California marriages were important to the two St. Louis couples.
"We did it because it shows intent," Kalk said. "It shows we intended to marry (in Missouri) but were not allowed to."
It is really awesome to have this article! This is going to be a great event!!
Below is all the info you need about the event on Saturday. A website has been set up with maps, links and more!
See you there!
Scott Emanuel
All event information:
http://www.showmenohate.com/
St. Louis Response to PROP 8
Saturday November 15
12-2pm Old Courthouse on Broadway
(between Chestnut and Market)
